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unposted letters of a cinephile

Why “The Office” is the most inimitable sitcom ever

Allusions to some Dwight and “that’s what she said” kept making their way into my earspace at the coffee stalls, months ago, from a bunch I didn’t have much regards for. Probably another pompous TV show that these people talk about, just loud enough to be associated with its viewing, like keeping one’s wrist bent enough in a room to draw attention to the dial of a fancy watch while talking in an impression making exercise.

I was intrigued a little bit. So went back to my desk and looked up Dwight and got to know that he was a character from a show called “The Office“. I was glad it had ended five years before. I make it a point to avoid watching anything that is a part of an ongoing fad. I somehow find it below me to watch something because a larger crowd binges on it. And also I like to trip on, savour moments, conversations at the end of a long lazy day. So verbose, conversational shows strewn with dark humour and sarcasm are my kind of poison. Not the plot heavy ones with diabolic twists and turns.

I started watching it, the same night. It opened with mild piano interludes trickling over a shot of everyday traffic till we, in a moment come across a board that says “Scranton Welcomes You”, confirming the city the traffic belongs to as we move to a wall that reads “Dunder Mifflin”, before going in to show the people that constitute Dunder Mifflin, Scranton. This unfussy opening credit establishment from macro to micro nothingness had such an understated charm to it. I immediately knew I was watching something special. Even now, every time I hear the opening credit, my face automatically becomes a lit up smiling emoji.

In one of the initial episodes, Michael’s assembling a team to play basketball and he looks at a black coworker and says,”Ofcourse” obviating his inclusion into the team. For the uninitiated, Mike says more inappropriate things in a day than Trump on cocaine, would in a year.

The shit storm doesn’t stop there, it spirals downward further when he’s asking someone to be a cheerleader for the game. That’s when a fat middle aged employee volunteers, to be met with this beauty from Mike-“Oh Yuck.. That’s more worse than you playing.”
A moment of uncomfortable silence ensues, as the camera pans to the woman’s blood drained pale face and back to a nervous Mike.

That’s basically how every episode pans out, from one grand Mike screw up to another, reaction shots and my favourite- a serene fourth wall breaking rant in a different tangent altogether.

Steve Carroll’s Michael Scott stands tall as the centrepiece of the endearing catastrophe that “The Office” is. He’s not the atypical TV protagonist we’re used to, in the sense that he doesn’t come with a hero’s halo or a fallen angel narrative crutch. Usually these shows, most shows including Friends, Two and a half Men, Big Bang Theory or Californication,House or Boston Legal if I were to consider workplace dramedies, ensure that a central character’s shown as a cool anomaly, endowed with a great repertoire of wicked sarcasm, often mouthing signature punch lines with an ability to draw the fairer sex in hordes, like moths to a halogen bulb. Every anecdote is built around carefully in an endeavour to not just humanise these flawed gentlemen, but paint them larger than life in a world short of odd ball allure. These people can be part of earth altering goof ups, day to day screw ups, get reality checks and even get their asses handed over occasionally; but make no mistake, can never be an ass of a joke or of questionable niceness. Never! You can hear the prompt laughters in the background, see them being rejected by a hot chick every now and then; fall with their legs stretched skywards or dipped in dirty brown water. But somehow the treatment will distill the air of mockery, to keep their “funny man” sex appeal untainted.

This is where Michael Scott is different. A whiff of fresh air…err fart. He’s the consistent butt of all jokes from start to end at Dunder Miflin. He’s this dimwitted loser,petty,morally ambivalent, offensive, sexist, racist guy who is awful with women, easily intimidated and wears his foot in mouth like a badge of honour. Often than not, you’re not just laughing with him, but at him.

All of us would have been a part of some meeting or the other at our workplace. But trust me, nothing comes close to the ones conducted in the Conference room at Dunder Mifflin.

Most jokes in The Office land at that fleeting space between, offensive, insensitive and howlarious. The humour is dry and has a everyday quality to it, largely due to the voyeuristic way in which the entire show plays out. Most episodes progress from one mess to another,from one inappropriate statement to another, one shenanigan to another with each concerned character breaking the fourth wall from time to time. Unlike the broader style of acting that we’re used to, where we expect to be hinted by a funny man like say a Chandler from Friends through body language or facial concussions, before every joke, most of the humour in The Office comes as an afterthought. The slapstick tropes hit us instantly here as well, like a parkour stunt going wrong. But the best jokes here are the ones that tempt us to play them back in our heads again and again, as WTF becomes crazy funny. Each episode is filmed solicitously with a certain handheld quality, putting us in a breathing distance between happenings and conversations, like a fly on the wall. Not before we come to terms with the side of the happenings we’re on, laughing our asses off like a conventional audience of comedy.

Take this episode for instance, Phyllis’s wedding.

It opens with Mike sneaking in from behind the bride’s maids for a picture. (Did I tell you Mike’a the most narcissistic creature that there is?)He’s talking to us. He’s telling, “Phyllis has asked me to push her father’s wheelchair down the aisle. So I’m co-giving away the bride. Since I’m paying her salary, I’m paying for the wedding. It’s a big day for Phyllis. But a bigger day for me. Employer of the bride!”

Moments later he’s in her change room and matters escalate quickly.

Things go from “If you wanna vomit, it’s ok. Because I just did.” to “Phyllis, did you break wind? That’s a natural reaction. It’s your wedding and you’re nervous.”
He does leave, but not before trying to adjust her hair to cover a bald patch, while being led out of.

Occasionally, The Office is a box of surprises. The oddball characters behave/misbehave in their settled rhythm together and apart, doing things in a certain way, expected of them in given situations. But there are times they pull the rug from under.

There’s this episode with Pam’s paintings. There’s this moment between her and Mike. The mood’s mellow, right things come out of that mouth and it threatens to become beautiful, when a chunkies comes between. And like that, a random moment of bonding segues back to the inappropriate humor that we’re used to.

I know The Office is an oddball phenomenon that’s better experienced, than explained. I’ve still gone ahead and tried to recollect some stuff from the top of my head- episodes, memories and feelings. But trust me, I can go on forever till it becomes TMI.
Yes, I’ve spoken extensively about Michael Scott and not the others. But that’s how I’ve watched it unfold, from his perspective. To me Mike epitomises The Office. That’s why I didn’t watch the last two seasons after he left. But that’s me. Maybe another person might trip on the absolute weirdo Dwight is. Some might be suckers for the free flowing Jim and Pam romance. Some might just like the synergy of the entire bunch. But whatever it is, The Office is inimitable TV; a gift that keeps giving. If you can manage to keep a straight face, while Mike slips his burnt foot into a MRI machine, you’re either Buddha or chronically depressed.